Historically, the local phone system has been a monopoly with one phone company providing service to all subscribers within a certain geographic area. This particular phone company was responsible for making a large investment, building and maintaining an end-to-end network, and selling retail services on that network. The company owned all of the network elements: central office equipment and outside plant loops (wires). Since the network was a major investment and it didn't make economic sense to have two phone networks, the government allowed the one network (a natural monopoly), but subjected the phone company to regulation.
While operating as a monopoly, the phone company would sell ‘phone service’ to a subscriber and ‘bundle’ all of the network elements needed to provide the service. The subscriber's only option was to buy the service and accept the bundled network elements.
In an effort to foster competition in the local phone market and create benefits for consumers, the US Government passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. This Act mandated that local monopoly phone companies make ‘Unbundled Network Elements’ (UNEs) available to competing phone companies. This provision gave competitive phone companies (Competitive Local Exchange Carriers, or CLECs) the right to lease equipment and local loops from the incumbent phone company (incumbent Local Exchange Carrier, or ILEC). As a result of the Act, a consumer could more easily subscribe to phone service offered by a competitive phone company (CLEC). The CLEC leases an unbundled loop from the ILEC, and uses that loop to deliver service to the consumer/subscriber. In this arrangement, a CLEC provides the central office equipment and the ILEC provides the loop.
Federal and state regulatory agencies created strict rules under which the incumbents had to deliver UNEs to the CLECs. For example, in the above scenario, when an existing subscriber wished to switch from the ILEC to the CLEC, and the subscriber was re-using the same loop, the transition (or cutover) had to be smooth and had to take less than one hour. If the subscriber was out of service for more than one hour, the ILEC could be fined.
Reference can be made to FIG. 1 to aid in understanding a type of procedure presently used. In the ILEC Central Office (CO), represented at 100, there is the ILEC switching equipment (switch), represented at 110, and an inside wire jumper 125 in a Main Distributing Frame (MDF), represented at 120. The MDF has two sides. One side contains the termination points of wires coming from the switch. The other side contains the termination points of the local loops that extend out to the subscribers. In FIG. 1, an exemplary local loop wire is shown at 161, and it is coupled to a subscriber (190) via crossbox 170 and telephone pole (180) wiring. The wire jumper (e.g. 125) connects these two termination points. Whereas the switch and outside local loop wire are considered permanent fixtures, the inside wire jumper is considered temporary because it lasts only as long as the subscriber is in service. The ILEC switch emits an analog signal (dial-tone) that travels from the switch port to the MDF, through the wire jumper to the other side of the MDF, and from the MDF out to the subscriber via the local loop wire.
A CLEC, the central office of which is represented at 150, may install some equipment in the ILEC's central office. This equipment extends the dial tone from the CLEC's switch (155), which is at a remote location. In a large central office, it is common to have equipment for many CLECs ‘co-located’ in the central office. An example is the CLEC cage, shown at 165, within the ILEC central office 100. Fiber optics cable 185 is shown as coupling the CLEC switch 155 in the ILEC central office 100. Theoretically, a subscriber can get their phone service from any one of those co-located CLECs. When a subscriber wants to change phone companies, the most likely scenario is to keep their existing local loop and connect to a co-located CLEC's equipment in the ILEC's central office. The process of changing from an ILEC to a CLEC, while minimizing the amount of out-of-service time, is called a Coordinated Conversion or Coordinated Cut. Other similar industry terms, used interchangeably, are: cutover, cut, and or hot-cut.
The cutover usually takes place in several steps. On Day 1 the ILEC takes the order from the CLEC. On Day 3, an ILEC technician runs a new wire jumper 128 from the CLEC cage to a point at the main distributing frame (MDF) but does not connect the wire to the subscriber. The technician also verifies that dial-tone is emitting from the CLEC equipment. On Day 5, at an appointed hour known as the Frame Due Time (FDT) an ILEC technician:                1) Disconnects the ILEC wire jumper from the local loop, thereby disconnecting the ILEC switching equipment and putting the subscriber out-of-service.        2) Connects the CLEC wire jumper (128) to the local loop, thereby connecting the subscriber to the CLEC switch and putting the subscriber back in service.        
The first problem for the ILEC is that they need a technician to perform work on Day 3 and Day 5. Moreover, there is no flexibility in scheduling the FDT on Day 5, which is set by the CLEC and must be completed in a 1 hour window for 10 lines or less. (Somewhat more time is allotted for a cutover consisting of more than 10 lines.) When there are hundreds or thousands of orders per day the work force requirements are substantial, since ILEC technicians must be available at specified times in order to complete the cutovers in accordance with federal and state requirements.
The second problem for the ILEC is to verify that a dial-tone signal is emitting from the CLEC's switch, and that the correct telephone number is translated in the CLEC's switch. Although it is the CLEC's responsibility to program their switch to turn on the dial-tone, it is the ILEC's responsibility to verify the dial tone is present in the ILEC central office. The ILEC accomplishes this on Day 3 by having an ILEC technician test for dial-tone during the wiring process. If dial tone is present, the technician then performs an ANI test (Automated Number Identification) and verifies the correct phone number is emitting from the CLEC switch. If both tests pass, the CLEC translation process is correct. If either test fails, the ILEC technician must report the status back to an ILEC control center. The ILEC control center informs the CLEC of the bad test, the CLEC takes corrective action, and, some time later, the ILEC technician repeats the test. The test for dial tone is a manual process because on Day 3, the CLEC is not wired to any ILEC equipment.
It is among the objects of the present invention to provide solution to the above problems, and to improve the efficiency of telephone cutover procedures.